Miles Halter
Character Analysis

A junior in high school and the main character and narrator of the novel. He moves to the Culver Creek boarding school in Birmingham, AL from his home in Florida, where he is a good student but has few friends. He decides to leave home “to seek a Great Perhaps” and has a penchant for memorizing famous people’s last words. Miles is very gangly, so his friends at Culver Creek nickname him “Pudge.” Over time, Miles transforms into a confident, risk-taking person with a great capacity for forgiveness and introspection.

Miles Halter Quotes in Looking for Alaska

The Looking for Alaska quotes below are all either spoken by Miles Halter or refer to Miles Halter. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

).
Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Speak edition of Looking for Alaska published in 2008.

1. One Hundred Thirty-Six Days Before
Quotes

“François Rabelais. He was this poet. And his last words were ‘I go to seek a Great Perhaps.’ That’s why I’m going. So I don’t have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps.”

“Anyway, when you get in trouble, just don’t tell on anyone. I mean, I hate the rich snots here with a fervent passion I usually reserve only for dental work and my father. But that doesn’t mean I would rat them out. Pretty much the only important thing is never never never never rat.”

“It was the central moment of Alaska’s life. When she cried and told me that she fucked everything up, I knew what she meant now. And when she said she failed everyone, I know whom she meant. It was the everything and the everyone of her life.”

“We left. We did not say: Don’t drive. You’re drunk. We did not say: We aren’t letting you in that car when you are upset. We did not say: We insist on going with you. We did not say: This can wait until tomorrow. Anything—everything—can wait.”

“I could hear the Colonel screaming, and I could feel hands on my back as I hunched forward, but I could only see her lying naked on a metal table, a small trickle of blood falling out of her half-teardrop nose, her green eyes open, staring off into the distance, her mouth turned up just enough to suggest the idea of a smile, and she had felt so warm against me, her mouth so soft and warm on mine.”

“And now she was colder by the hour, more dead with every breath I took. I thought: That is the fear: I have lost something important, and I cannot find it, and I need it. It is fear like if someone lost his glasses and went to the glasses store and they told him that the world had run out of glasses and he would just have to do without.”

“So we gave up. I’d finally had enough of chasing after a ghost who did not want to be discovered. We’d failed, maybe, but some mysteries aren’t meant to be solved. I still did not know her as I wanted to, but I never could. She made it impossible for me.”

“But we knew what could be found out, and in finding it out, she had made us closer—the Colonel and Takumi and me, anyway. And that was it. She didn’t leave me enough to discover her, but she left me enough to rediscover the Great Perhaps.”

“And POOF we are driving through the moment of her death. We are driving through the place that she could not drive through, passing onto asphalt she never saw, and we are not dead. We are not dead! We are breathing and we are crying and now slowing down and moving back into the right lane.”

“I would never know her well enough to know her thoughts in those last minutes, would never know if she left us on purpose. But the not-knowing would not keep me from caring, and I would always love Alaska Young, my crooked neighbor, with all my crooked heart.”

“Forgetting her mother, failing her mother and her friends and herself—those are awful things, but she did not need to fold into herself and self-destruct. Those awful things are survivable, because we are as indestructible as we believe ourselves to be. When adults say, “Teenagers think they are invincible” with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don’t know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken.”

“So I know she forgives me, just as I forgive her. Thomas Edison’s last words were: “It’s very beautiful over there.” I don’t know where there is, but I believe it’s somewhere, and I hope it’s beautiful.”

Miles Halter Character Timeline in Looking for Alaska

The timeline below shows where the character Miles Halter appears in Looking for Alaska. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

1. One Hundred Thirty-Six Days Before

The book begins with Miles discussing the going away party his mother throws for him the week before he leaves...
(full context)

Miles’ mother asks him if he wants to leave Florida because he doesn’t have any friends....
(full context)

2. One Hundred Twenty-Eight Days Before

The following week, Miles arrives at Culver Creek. He says goodbye to his parents, does some unpacking, and then...
(full context)

Chip tells Miles that he is at Culver Creek on an academic scholarship. He wrote his scholarship essay...
(full context)

After Miles helps Chip unpack his things, Chip explains to Miles that there are two types of...
(full context)

Chip nicknames Miles “Pudge” because he’s so skinny, and he tells Miles that he should call him “the...
(full context)

After buying cigarettes from Alaska, the Colonel and Miles go down to the lake and Miles smokes for the first time. The Colonel explains...
(full context)

The Colonel leaves and Miles tries to smoke another cigarette. He tells the reader that he doesn’t have a good...
(full context)

Miles doesn’t know how to respond, so he asks Alaska about the books in her room....
(full context)

3. One Hundred Twenty-Seven Days Before

The next morning Miles asks the Colonel about Alaska’s boyfriend. The Colonel says that she must like him, because...
(full context)

...Weekday Warrior, and Takumi reminds the Colonel that his own girlfriend is a Weekday Warrior. Miles thinks it’s dumb to hate an entire group of people. There is much speculation among...
(full context)

That night, Miles decides to sleep in only his boxers because it is too hot to wear anything...
(full context)

The Colonel is confused by why it took Miles so long to come home, and he is shocked to learn that Kevin and the...
(full context)

4. One Hundred Twenty-Six Days Before

Miles attends his first class at Culver Creek and is surprised to find that all of...
(full context)

Later that day Miles attends World Religion class. The teacher, whom the students call the Old Man, announces that...
(full context)

5. One Hundred Twenty-Two Days Before

A few days later, Miles finds the Colonel in their bedroom, trying—and failing—to iron a shirt for his dinner with...
(full context)

...all else, is stunned that anyone would imagine he would rat on a fellow student. Miles doesn’t understand why the Colonel doesn’t break up with Sara if he hates Weekday Warriors...
(full context)

6. One Hundred Ten Days Before

One day Miles gets in trouble with Dr. Hyde, who catches him staring out a window during class....
(full context)

Alaska is angry at the Colonel and Takumi for not leaving with her and Miles, but when they finally get out of class, the four walk down to “the Smoking...
(full context)

Alaska tells Miles that she wants to kiss him but she can’t because she has a boyfriend. Takumi...
(full context)

7. One Hundred Nine Days Before

The Colonel convinces Miles to go to the Creek’s first basketball game, despite the fact that Miles hates sports...
(full context)

Miles is shocked to find that everyone in the school, from the goth girls to Kevin...
(full context)

...something ridiculous. Eventually, the Colonel gets kicked out, which turns out to be his goal. Miles is happy to be friends with someone as bold as the Colonel.
(full context)

8. One Hundred Eight Days Before

The next day Dr. Hyde asks Miles to stay behind after class. He knows that Miles likes the class, and he tells...
(full context)

9. One Hundred One Days Before

...group of people to McDonalds to study. A girl named Lara has to sit in Miles’ lap to fit in the car, which Alaska has named “Blue Citrus.” Hank suggests to...
(full context)

10. One Hundred Days Before

Miles asks Alaska about her name. She explains that when she was born, her parents couldn’t...
(full context)

Alaska talks to Miles about how difficult it’s going to be to get out of her hometown of Vine...
(full context)

11. Ninety-Nine Days Before

Miles, the Colonel, Takumi, and Alaska go down to the lake to smoke. The Eagle happens...
(full context)

12. Ninety-Eight Days Before

Miles, the Colonel, Takumi, and Alaska go to see the Jury, which is a group of...
(full context)

Alaska and the Colonel take the fall for smoking and keep Miles and Takumi out of trouble. Alaska has been in trouble enough times that she is...
(full context)

13. Eighty-Nine Da ys Before

Days later Miles is still confused by what happened at the Jury, but then Alaska tells him that...
(full context)

14. Eighty-Seven Days Before

Alaska introduces Jake to Miles and Jake jokes that he hopes Miles and Lara get along so that Miles can’t...
(full context)

Miles wakes up the next morning and continues to repeat that he is concussed. The Colonel...
(full context)

15. Eighty-Four Days Before

It rains for days in Birmingham, and no one socializes. Miles tries to eat dinner with Alaska, but she tells him she doesn’t feel like answering...
(full context)

16. Seventy-Six Days Before

...to pick a question and then discuss how Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists would answer it. Miles decides his question will be about what happens when we die. The Colonel plans to...
(full context)

17. Sixty-Seven Days Before

It finally stops raining, and Miles sits outside thinking about the last words of Civil War commanders. Takumi finds him and...
(full context)

Miles is skeptical at first, but Takumi explains that he figured out that no one could...
(full context)

Takumi tells Miles that the Colonel and Alaska are planning a prank, and Miles will need to be...
(full context)

18. Fifty-Eight Days Before

A week later, Alaska herself tells Miles that she ratted out Marya. Miles is very attracted to Alaska, but he can’t tell...
(full context)

Later that day, the Colonel warns Miles not to go after Alaska over the break because of the drama that would ensue...
(full context)

19. Fifty-Two Days Before

Everyone leaves for the break. Alaska takes Miles down to a spot in the forest and tells him to start digging. He uncovers...
(full context)

Alaska and Miles lie in the grass reading, and Miles considers telling Alaska that he loves her. Just...
(full context)

20. Fifty-One Days Before

Alaska wakes Miles up the next morning so that he can accompany her in going into other students’...
(full context)

21. Forty-Nine Days Before

Alaska decides that she and Miles should go “porn hunting” in their fellow students’ rooms. Alaska is particularly skilled at finding...
(full context)

22. Forty-Seven Days Before

A few days later, Miles goes to see Alaska, and when he gets to her room, she is melting down...
(full context)

The Colonel shows up unexpectedly and invites Miles and Alaska to come back to his house for dinner. As they drive to his...
(full context)

Alaska helps the Colonel’s mom, Dolores, cook dinner, while Miles and the Colonel play video games. The food is delicious and Miles realizes that the...
(full context)

Dolores insists that Alaska and Miles sleep in the bed, while she sleeps on the couch and the Colonel sleeps outside....
(full context)

23. Forty-Six Days Before

The next day is Thanksgiving, and Miles thinks that Dolores makes the best Thanksgiving meal he’s ever had. In Miles’ family, everyone...
(full context)

Miles says that he’s grateful for the food, company, and having a place to spend Thanksgiving....
(full context)

24. Forty-Four Days Before

Miles and Alaska go to Coosa Liquors, where Alaska buys her alcohol and cigarettes. Getting cigarettes...
(full context)

Later that day Alaska shows up crying at Miles’ door. She asks Miles why she messes everything up, but Miles doesn’t know what she’s...
(full context)

...the one who told, he said to her that he could never trust her again. Miles suggests that maybe it would help if Alaska explained to him why she turned Marya...
(full context)

25. Christmas

Everyone goes home for Christmas break—even Alaska. Miles spends most of the break studying for his exams, which start the day after he...
(full context)

26. Eight Days Before

...thinking that the yearly prank on the school has already happened. She decides that she, Miles, the Colonel, Takumi, and Lara, whom Miles hasn’t spoken to since he threw up on...
(full context)

Miles is annoyed at Alaska for leaving him out. It’s happened before, but Miles thought that...
(full context)

27. Four Days Before

Miles doesn’t have any details about the prank, and the Colonel and Alaska ignore him all...
(full context)

Instead of writing a more academic conclusion to his paper, Miles decides to talk about why he thinks people care about what happens when we die....
(full context)

28. Three Days Before

Miles packs two-days worth of black clothing for the weekend in the barn and he, the...
(full context)

The Colonel has coordinated the prank down to the second. As they leave the barn, Miles thinks that this is the coolest he has ever felt, and that the Great Perhaps...
(full context)

Miles and Takumi set off a string of fireworks. Their timing and path has been carefully...
(full context)

...about how angry Kevin is going to be, and Alaska says that he deserves it. Miles, on the other hand, doesn’t really hate Kevin anymore. He thinks that it takes too...
(full context)

29. Two Days Before

Miles says that his best day is today. He tells them that he woke up next...
(full context)

...kicked him out and he never came back. The Colonel hasn’t heard from him since. Miles can’t top this, but tells his story about the time when a boy in his...
(full context)

...sudden she had to be responsible for the things her parents could no longer do. Miles realizes that Lara is quiet like he is and they finally have something in common....
(full context)

...only got to see her as she was being lifted onto her Buddhist funeral pyre. Miles decides to smoke a cigarette even though he knows it’s dumb to smoke in such...
(full context)

...was too young to have known what to do and that it’s not her fault. Miles thinks back to when Alaska said that her mother doesn’t smoke anymore and now understands...
(full context)

Miles now understands that this “was the central moment of Alaska’s life.” He understands why she...
(full context)

Later that night, Miles decides to make a move on Lara and eventually ends up climbing into her sleeping...
(full context)

30. One Day Before

Everyone wakes up hung-over the next morning, but Alaska is particularly sick. Miles suggests that she should drink less, and she tells him that he doesn’t get the...
(full context)

31. The Last Day

Kevin shows up at Miles and the Colonel’s room and congratulates them on dying his hair blue. He asks for...
(full context)

Lara and Miles spend the day hanging out. Lara tries to give Miles a blow job, but neither...
(full context)

Miles thinks a bit and then tells Lara that the way people die is often indicative...
(full context)

...the success of their prank. There are white tulips in Alaska’s room, and she tells Miles that Jake got them for her for their anniversary. Eventually Alaska suggests a game of...
(full context)

When the Colonel drunkenly realizes that Miles hooked up with Alaska, he tells Miles that things are not going to end well....
(full context)

The Colonel and Miles don’t understand why Alaska is so upset. She keeps saying that she forgot something and...
(full context)

32. The Day After

The Eagle wakes Miles and the Colonel up the next morning and tells them to go to the gym....
(full context)

...the gym, they don’t see him, and the Colonel thinks that his suspicion is confirmed. Miles is sad about Dr. Hyde, but can’t stop thinking about what Alaska’s words “To be...
(full context)

...finally tells everyone that overnight, Alaska died in a car crash. The room falls silent. Miles runs out of the gym to throw up and is overwhelmed with guilt for letting...
(full context)

Miles tells the Eagle that Alaska is just playing a prank on everyone. The Eagle explains...
(full context)

Miles starts running through people’s last words in his head. He knows lots of them, but,...
(full context)

33. Two Days After

Miles calls his parents and tells them about the car crash. They pity Alaska’s parents and...
(full context)

The Colonel tells Miles that he spent the night memorizing the capitals of every country in the world. They...
(full context)

Miles wonders if an instantaneous death feels instantaneous to the person dying. Did Alaska think about...
(full context)

Lara comes to see Miles but he doesn’t know how to talk to her, because he feels like he’s in...
(full context)

34. Four Days After

The Colonel finally returns. He is freezing and tells Miles that he walked to Montevallo and back, which adds up to be 84 miles in...
(full context)

35. Six Days After

On the way to Alaska’s funeral, Miles feels so much pain that he physically hurts. He loves Alaska and she cannot love...
(full context)

At the funeral Alaska’s casket is closed, and Miles realizes that he will never see her again. When he asks her father why it’s...
(full context)

36. Seven Days After

The Colonel tells Miles that he has just had lunch with the Eagle, who asked him if he was...
(full context)

Miles takes Alaska’s condoms and the Colonel looks for her alcohol stash. Miles is happy to...
(full context)

Miles turns to the general’s last words and is surprised to find the words “Straight &...
(full context)

Miles shows the note to the Colonel, who realizes that Alaska died “straight and fast.” She...
(full context)

37. Eight Days After

...and a number of people who didn’t know Alaska well speak about their grief, while Miles and the Colonel remain silent.
(full context)

...Colonel hates the way the other students pretend like they were close to Alaska, but Miles isn’t bothered by it, because he realizes he doesn’t know her as well as he...
(full context)

38. Nine Days After

...saw the jackknifed truck and realized it could be “the end to her labyrinthine mystery.” Miles tells the Colonel that she couldn’t have been thinking about Jake because she was making...
(full context)

...him “her accomplice,” and he’s furious with her for driving a wedge between himself and Miles. He wants to ask Jake about his call with Alaska that night, but Miles isn’t...
(full context)

39. Thirteen Days After

Miles and the Colonel walk to the Pelham Police Department to talk to the police officer...
(full context)

The Colonel tells Miles about a time last year when he and Takumi and Alaska were at the Smoking...
(full context)

Miles becomes frustrated and says that whatever they find out, they are no less guilty, and...
(full context)

40. Fourteen Days After

The Colonel and Miles research the signs of suicide, most of which Alaska never exhibited. She did, however, fit...
(full context)

Miles says that looking for answers is only making him hate Alaska. He thinks to himself...
(full context)

...she doesn’t understand Morse code. The Colonel calls Holly a “stupid bitch” once she leaves. Miles points out that Alaska wouldn’t have wanted him to ever call a girl a bitch.
(full context)

41. Twenty Days After

The Colonel brings up calling Jake again, and Miles still refuses to participate in the call. The Colonel tells him he can’t figure it...
(full context)

Miles goes to the Smoking Hole and screams at the top of his lungs about everything...
(full context)

Miles wonders if he should hope that he can forget Alaska and not have to think...
(full context)

42. Twenty-One Days After

...love God because he is God, not because doing so will get them to heaven. Miles hasn’t read the story, because he has studied very little since Alaska’s death. He likes...
(full context)

Miles and Takumi go to McDonalds and Miles apologizes for ignoring Takumi since the accident—something he’s...
(full context)

43. Twenty-Seven Days After

Four weeks after Alaska’s death, the Colonel decides that that he and Miles should steal the Eagle’s Breathalyzer and try to replicate Alaska’s intoxication level on her last...
(full context)

Miles knocks on the Eagle’s door to distract him so that the Colonel can run in...
(full context)

...spends the night trying to reach a .24 blood alcohol level so that he and Miles can figure out what Alaska would have been capable of doing in that state. They...
(full context)

44. Twenty-Eight Days After

The next morning Miles takes a French test that he hasn’t studied for at all. The exam asks him...
(full context)

Miles and the Colonel tell Takumi about how they helped Alaska leave, and he says they...
(full context)

45. Twenty-Nine Days After

While the Colonel calls Jake, Takumi accuses Miles of hoping to find out that Alaska was on her way to break up with...
(full context)

...The fact that she made this plan with Jake and said “To be continued” to Miles suggests to the group that she wasn’t planning on killing herself.
(full context)

Miles and the Colonel try to remember the conversation they had with Alaska on her last...
(full context)

46. Thirty-Seven Days After

One day Miles literally runs into Lara and he apologizes. This is the first time they’ve spoken since...
(full context)

47. Forty-Five Days After

People have stopped giving Miles and the Colonel cigarettes out of sympathy, so Takumi drives them to Coosa Liquors to...
(full context)

48. Forty-Six Days After

Takumi guilt trips Miles into talking to Lara by asking how Miles thinks Alaska would react to the fact...
(full context)

Miles and Lara walk to the lake. He tells her as much as he can about...
(full context)

That evening, Lara, Takumi, the Colonel, and Miles each throw a cigarette into the Smoking Hole, which is actually more like a fishing...
(full context)

49. Fifty-One Days After

Miles learns about koans, which are a type of riddle in Zen Buddhism that are meant...
(full context)

Miles likes the idea that someday no one in the world will remember Alaska. She has...
(full context)

50. Sixty-Two Days After

Miles calls his parents to tell them that he hasn’t been doing well in school because...
(full context)

51. Sixty-Nine Days After

...that they are going to build a playground in Alaska’s honor. This does not strike Miles as something Alaska would have particularly liked, and Lara stands up and says that they...
(full context)

52. Eighty-Three Days After

...spring break coordinating the prank, and the group convenes once everyone is back on campus. Miles suspects that the Colonel has spent so much time working on the prank so that...
(full context)

53. Eighty-Four Days After

...to agree to host “Dr. William Morse,” who they will say is a friend of Miles’ dad and a scholar of adolescent sexuality. Miles calls his dad and asks him if...
(full context)

...love the prank and are happy to assist. Longwell Chase, the class president, goes with Miles to the Eagle’s office, and they tell him that they have chosen a friend of...
(full context)

54. One Hundred Two Days After

Although Miles’ dad pretended to be Dr. Morse on the phone, the group hires a male stripper...
(full context)

...the Colonel gives him the speech he has written him and pays his fee upfront. Miles accompanies Maxx to the gym, since he is supposed to be a friend of Miles’...
(full context)

Students from the other grads can’t figure out who was responsible for the prank, and Miles tells everyone that it wasn’t him or the Colonel or Takumi, but Alaska. Alaska once...
(full context)

55. One Hundred Fourteen Days After

...and a half later, Takumi suggests that the date January 10 might be significant. To Miles, it’s the day Alaska died, but Takumi reminds him that Alaska’s best day of her...
(full context)

56. One Hundred Eighteen Days After

...trying to find out anything else. They aren’t certain whether she intended to die, but Miles decides “some mysteries aren’t meant to be solved.” Miles isn’t sure if he should be...
(full context)

The Colonel and Miles decide that the last thing they need to do before they can let go of...
(full context)

58. One Hundred Twenty-Two Days After

Miles asks the Colonel how he is going to escape the labyrinth, and the Colonel says...
(full context)

59. One Hundred Thirty-Six Days After

On the last day of school, Miles finds a note from Takumi slipped under his door. In it, Takumi tells Miles that...
(full context)

Miles runs to Takumi’s room to forgive him but he’s already gone. In that moment, Miles...
(full context)

Miles runs back home and sits down to write his religion paper. He writes that before...
(full context)

Miles writes that eventually he will forget Alaska, but he knows that she will forgive him...
(full context)

Miles knows that matter cannot be truly destroyed, and he believes that Alaska’s energy works the...
(full context)